Just a reminder to Class 11C Wednesday

First of all, thanks for your efforts during the impromptu "demonstration class."  We will talk about that later, but I had no idea that was going to happen and had to make a last minute decision about what we would discuss for the second hour.  In any case, you guys were great.

So, we decided to debate the following:

THS: Peace keeping interventions in nations experiencing civil war.  

OPP Team: Kwonseok, Changwoo, Seungchan, Seungchol

GOV Team: Seung Min, Jack, Jiyeon, Daeun  

Correct me if I'm wrong about any of the above.  Also, is the wording ideal for a good debate motion?  Should it be adjusted, or something else entirely (though still connected to peacekeeping). 

I know you some of you wanted to debate something related to the 30 Days we watched, but I think that's better suited to an in-class discussion.  I want to turn our focus to something political and current issues related to get away from education-themed debates.  

This one is good, and very relevant to what's going on in Libya.  Our next task is to get up to speed and develop material to draw from before class - so for your next Critical Response I'd like you to find an article, video, or something related to the issue that will help develop arguments.

As usual, Wikipedia is a good first stop along the way.  It gives us the definition of peacekeeping and some background concerning the UN.  It also gives us "criticisms" that include the rise of prostitution and corruption etc. in nations that have housed peacekeeping troops, as is made clear here.  So there is potential damage to the nations we "assist" and, of course, potential death, injury, and stress to the troops we supply.  And for what?  To what end?  To what benefit?  These are the scales we should examine in this debate.  Afghanistan is a big one.  Libya.  Africa.  We have to question why the UN (often dominated by American interests) interferes in one situation but not another.  Oil is often more more the concern than human rights, but that never stopped Bush from "freeing the people of Iraq." 

So, dig something up, discuss it in a couple or few paragraphs, and try to visit each others blogs before class.